Sensei
by AppleL0V3R
Summary: Collection. 1. Fallacies - Prove Me Wrong. An age gap between two people in a relationship wasn't a concept Sakura could grasp, so how'd this happen? AU.


**Title:** Prove Me Wrong

**Author:** AppleL0V3R

**Beta-reader:** SymphoniaFreak

**Fandom:** Naruto

**Pairing:** Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura

**Rating:** T

**Type:** One-shot – Complete

**Summary:** An age gap between two people in a relationship wasn't a concept Sakura could grasp, so how'd this happen?

**Theme:** 30 Lessons LJ challenge (E2 – Fallacies)

**Word Count:** 3,080

**Disclaimer:** If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

**Edited on:** January 26, 2012

* * *

**Fallacies** – mistaken beliefs or ideas

* * *

When she had first met him, she'd been in junior high and he'd been a high school teacher. The meeting had been purely incidental on both parts, but it had been the trigger.

In that meeting, they'd both been on vacation to one of the more northern small cities of Japan. It'd been turning out to be one of the worst vacations she'd ever taken, and overall it really had been. But meeting him had been fun and out of the blue. She'd assumed, with how well he knew the place that he was a resident – and by that time she hadn't been having much luck with them – but when she'd entered high school and he'd been her teacher, she learned that he simply visited there a lot. But that little town, between a café and a bookstore, is where their story started.

_Some amount of years ago_

_Sakura frowned at the map as she turned it this way and that. One would think whoever had made these had coded them or something. Wasn't the goal of maps to lay out the given area and be _helpful_?__ Because this most certainly was not. She felt like she was looking at a bunch of lines and scribbles and symbols. Whoever had made this really needed to get a new job. And it wasn't like she would dare to ask a passerby; they were the reason she was even attempting this stupid map reading in the first place. She knew tourists weren't that well liked – and foreigners even less so in Japan – but she was from Osaka and figured that she wouldn't have any problems considering she was just vacationing in another part of the incredibly small country she lived in. But apparently because of her pink hair, people continually thought she was a rebellious teenager from America forced to come here by her parents. _

_And thus the cold reception. Although, she always had been prone to attracting jerks. She figured it was the world's cruel way of finding an equilibrium in all life. That or the people here were just naturally that way._

_In any case, she wasn't going to bother with the residents here, just stay out of their way and enjoy herself as best she could. Which wasn't much, but still, there was no sense in wallowing about everything whether she wanted to be here or not._

_She almost sighed when she glanced up and around, then back down at the map because this really made no sense to her. None whatsoever. In fact, the parchment made so little sense to her that if she hadn't bought it for way more than it was worth, she would have crumpled it up and thrown it away. She settled for folding it along the proper edges and shoving it into a pocket._

_Then she started glancing around with the sour thought that she was back at square one, and it was irritating. Because she was also pretty sure she was lost. Not to mention her parents were expecting her back at the place they were staying like, thirty minutes ago, and her phone was dead so it wasn't like she could call or text to explain herself. This whole thing was just annoying and frustrating, and she had the urge to throw something – preferably glass so that she could hear it break – just to get the negative emotions out of her system._

_She settled for kicking the ground and shoving her hands in her pockets as she started to venture forth. _

"_Excuse me, Miss." She didn't pause because there was no way the guy – the voice was definitely male – was talking to her. The people here were jerks, and she wasn't ready to relent on that fact for some guy._

_He cleared his throat though and tried again. "Miss." He was right behind her if her hearing wasn't playing tricks on her._

_So she came to a halt and glanced around as unnoticeably as she could. There were people all around her, but only one man who was just a little ways behind her and to the right had stopped as well. _

_He was smiling at her, and she could tell it was real because it completely reached his eyes. "You look like you need some help."_

_She weighed her options: asking directions was pretty simple. But doing so meant walking up to someone else, asking directions and then going on your merry way once you had them. This was just a slight bit different because this guy – he had to be in his twenties despite the gray-silver hair – had walked up to _her _and offered to help._

_There was only one of two ways this could go. He really did mean to simply help out with directions or he was a serial something – like rapist or kidnapper or killer or a combination of the three. But he didn't give off the vibe of the latter and he did seem like he actually wanted to help. So letting go of some of her irritation, but definitely not her guard she nodded. "Yeah, I'm trying to get back to my hotel, but I'm pretty sure I'm lost."_

_He nodded understandably. "I would be more than happy to guide you there if you like." Her guard immediately shot up, and as if he realized this he added casually, "Or I could tell you how to get there." Before she could respond he continued on, "But I think it would be easier for you to have help all the way there. You seem like a smart girl; if you're lost, then I don't think a simple go straight, turn here, go this many blocks will actually help."_

_Which was a pretty logical argument. The teen nodded grudgingly once more. "Well, I don't see the fault in that logic, so please lead the way."_

_So he started walking the way she'd just come from, and Sakura was going to kick herself if she found out that she should have just retraced her steps a little. "Where are you from?"_

_She glanced at him and then let her gaze sweep around the seemingly hundreds of people. "Osaka."_

"_Osaka? That's quite a nice place."_

_She nodded and smiled, thinking of her friends and her home. "It is. Have you been there before?" She found it so easy to talk to him._

"A_mong a lot of other places." And when she raised a pink eyebrow of curious encouragement he kept going. "Tokyo, of course. Yokohama, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and well the list goes on. And a few European countries like Germany and Spain and France. Oh and I've been to America, big place." _

_She couldn't help but laugh. "Sounds like you've been everywhere."_

"_Almost." He agreed. "What's your name?"_

_Sakura hesitated for the barest of moments. "Haruno Sakura."_

_Just as she was about to ask his in return he came to a standstill. "Well, Sakura-chan, we're here."_

_She blinked and looked in the direction he was indicating to find that they were indeed at her destination. When she turned back to thank him, he was already gone leaving her to merely blink at the oddity and then shrug. And finally groan because damn it, she was still late and her parents were going to be a pain in the ass._

That had been the first time she met him. The second time would be a year later on her first day of high school.

_One Year Later – beginning of the school year  
Sakura's homeroom at her high school_

_Sakura grinned at Ino as the two girls walked into what would be their homeroom for the rest of the year. _

"_High-schoolers. Can you believe it?" Sakura asked, her green eyes bright about the possibilities of entering high school._

_The blonde nodded with just as much excitement, "We may be first years, but honestly, it's better than being in junior high. So what classes are you taking?"_

_The other teen grinned sheepishly. "Honors classes…"_

_Blue eyes rolled themselves. "I figured that, I meant like electives and stuff."_

"_Oh." The rosette paused to think about which classes she had signed up for, "Orchestra and Phys. Ed. To get it out of the way, you know?"_

_Ino nodded. "Then with any luck, we have that together cause I signed up for Phys. Ed. and acting." _

_It kind of rained on Sakura's spirits that she might have only one class, if that, with her best friend in the whole wide world. Well, at least there was homeroom. The two girls settled near the window – the green eyed girl taking the said window seat with Ino to her right – that was about midway between the front of the classroom and the back of it. _

"_Well, what about club activities?" Sakura asked, she already had a few in mind._

_Ino raised a pretty blonde eyebrow as if questioning whether her friend was okay or if Naruto had killed one too many of her brain cells over the break. The blonde got a blink and a blank stare before it finally clicked. "Right, cheerleading?" Ino nodded. _

_Sakura sighed. "I was thinking of Kendo club."_

"_Kendo?" The Yamanaka girl asked with disbelief._

_But she nodded earnestly. "Yeah, it was fun learning a few of lessons from Naruto and Sasuke so I figured I'd take it with them."_

_Blonde hair swayed from left to right as its owner shook her head, disbelief still etched into her features as she muttered, "Of course."_

_Sakura laughed though. "Lighten up, Ino-pig, we practically live at each other's houses anyways."_

"_Yeah," Came the feigned amiable agreement. "when you're not dividing your time between Naruto and Sasuke."_

_Green eyes blinked at the uncharacteristic show of possessiveness and neglect. Ino had never shown such a problem with Sakura hanging out with the two boys before. "Ino, what's up? You've never had qualms about it before." Her eyes turned teasing. "You're not getting jealous, are you?"_

"_With all the guys I have constantly surrounding me? You wish." Was the rebuttal as her blue eyes lightened and whatever had been there moments before was gone. Sakura was relieved to see that and hoped dearly that it had just been a flash of something and not an actual problem that her makeshift-sister was having. And if she was…then they would talk about it. It was all the pink haired teen could do at the moment._

_Especially when the door slid open after the bell to begin class had already rang and the teacher walked in. Sakura blinked and sat a little straighter, unable to believe what she was seeing. She just barely checked the Naruto-like urge to stand up and shout 'you' while pointing at him. But Ino's sharp eyes hadn't missed the stiffening of her friend's body._

"_What?"_

_Before she could say anything back however, the man introduced himself. "Hello all, I am Hatake Kakashi and I will be your homeroom teacher." He said it with a smile as his gray hair seemed to lean to the side and his eyes were closed._

_Ino looked between him and Sakura and was about to ask again before Sakura quietly said, "Remember that guy I ran into on vacation?"_

_Blue eyes blinked and their owner nodded slowly. "That's him?"_

_Sakura nodded, still looking at him numbly._

_Well this would be an interesting year._

And so things would continue for the two of them. With each passing day, Sakura got just a little closer to Kakashi and never missed a day to greet him when she was in the school building all the way until her final day of graduation.

_Three Years Later – day of graduation_

_School Auditorium_

_Sakura took a step back from the microphone as the audience erupted into applause and the students cheered. This was it. She was finally graduating. She'd said the ending speech and the principal went mostly unheard as she congratulated everyone for the final time._

_She smiled as the people on stage wandered off, all going to find their families and friends to make or execute plans of celebration for the event._

_Hers were to go to dinner with her friends for an hour or so and then go home to her parents. _

_When she glanced around through the crowds of gowns and hats and other people in normal wear, she found that the one person she wanted to see wasn't there anymore. He wasn't in the staff area or congratulating other students._

_A little put, out she distractedly told Ino that she wanted to go check something and would meet up with the rest of the gang later._

_Sakura completely missed Ino's sly grin as her blue eyes lit up with mischief because she was too busy with looking around. "Prince Charming isn't here?" _

_That's what the blonde had dubbed the rosette's crush. Since Sakura had never told her who she was crushing on – because she was still trying to convince herself she didn't like him like that cause it was wrong – Ino had simply decided to start calling him that. She was thankful that her persistent and very pushy friend hadn't demanded to know his name, but the trade-off had been that Sakura had to tell her everything, even the smallest detail._

_Which had been pretty fair, the green-eyed teen had to admit. But she nodded and took off, not even hearing the "I think you should kiss him cause you graduated and he owes you a present." that had been shouted to her through the crowd. If she had, she would have blushed and told Ino to do something not very polite._

_But she was already out of the auditorium and heading for what had been her homeroom three years ago. Oh the memories it brought. She slid open the sliding door and poked her head in to check if he was there. And unsurprisingly he was facing the window, sitting on her old desk. _

_She smiled at the nostalgia. "Caught up in old memories, Kakashi?" It was odd not adding a sensei to his name, but she wasn't a student any more, which meant he wasn't her teacher. Slipping the door shut behind her, the Haruno girl made her way to his side, leaning against the wall so that her body was half turned to him, half facing the window._

_He smiled. "It's very easy to get lost down memory lane, Sakura-chan. Don't you remember–"_

"_All the times you fabricated a reason for not being to school on time even though it was really because you slept in after staying up too late?" She interrupted smoothly with a raised eyebrow, mirth evident on her face._

_He shrugged nonchalantly. "No comment to that."_

_She snorted softly and shook her head. "So what were you thinking about?"_

"_That debate we had."_

"_We had a lot of debates over the years."_

_He was quiet for a moment. "The one about teachers and students dating."_

_She froze and then forced herself to say, "I don't believe we ever reached an agreement of any sort on that one."_

_He paused and then she found herself nailed under dark eyes filled with intent. "And what about teachers and former students dating?"_

_Her green eyes flickered to the scenery outside the window, but the world was engulfed in the darkness of night so she couldn't see much. And it reminded her of Kakashi's black eyes. Was there no escape? "Well, I'd say if the student was eighteen or older then maybe…"_

_Before she could finish the statement, she found her head being turned and lips applied to her own. Her cap fell off her head and clattered to the ground as she was tugged forth to be pressed against his body. For a long moment, she didn't know what to do, how to respond. The natural thing seemed to be to kiss back. But before she could even contemplate if that's what she wanted to do, he'd already pulled back._

_There was a simple smile on his lips, just barely curling the corners. But his eyes seemed darker than black and she felt it turn her insides to mush. It wasn't the first time she'd been kissed; it wasn't the first time she'd been looked at like that. But it was definitely the first time both had such an impact on her._

"_Well then, Sa-ku-ra. You don't have any more excuses to deny my advances."_

_That's what he'd been making all these years? But then her brain supplied her with a slew of pictures and events where he'd seemed kinda off for no reason that she could find, and then it clicked. "Kakashi! You've been flirting with me all this…seriously, is that why you brought up that subject?"_

_He nodded solemnly. "And you shot me down without a chance at take off."_

_She snorted. "You suck at being obvious, you know that?"_

"_Yes well, now that it's out there–"_

"_Don't go assuming that just because one impediment is out of the way I'm just going to acquiesce. You of all people should know me better than that."_

_He had the gall to fake a hurt look. "That's wounding Sakura-chan, right here." He even pointed to his heart._

_She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "If you say so."_

_He merely smiled in response. And then he kissed her again._

_She paused and then kissed him back. "This doesn't mean we're dating." _

_Kakashi leaned back a little. "I know. But now I've got a chance."_

_Sakura laughed. "Whatever. Look I've got to go; I promised I'd go to dinner with a group of my friends, so I'll call you tomorrow." She paused and tacked on, "ish."_

_And this time she kissed him, but it was on the cheek and she was out of the circle of his arms and out the door before he could properly react. But she did hear the: "That was mean, Sakura-chan."_


End file.
